Imber Revisited
Corsham Civic Society’s speaker at its July Open Meeting was Rex Sawyer. His subject, on this regular Friday evening meeting at the Pound, Corsham, was Imber Village. Rex is a frequent speaker at the Society’s highly-acclaimed gatherings. A recent talk concerned south Wiltshire’s Nadder Valley. Living in Tisbury, Rex is an acknowledged expert in this part of the county – while Imber has long been a settlement of special interest to this writer and narrator.
Members and their guests were, as ever, enthralled by what Rex had to tell them. Being the last monthly meeting before the traditional August break in the annual programme, the July Open Meeting was always going to be well attended. The presence of Rex, and his choice of subject, ensured that this was indeed the case.
The Society’s new Chairman, Les Davis, got the evening underway with a few announcements. In particular, he paid tribute to the outgoing Chairman, Wyndham Thomas, for occupying the chair with such distinction for the previous two years, and for representing the Society to the visitors from Jargeau at the recent Corsham Twinning Association weekend.
Les reminded Members that the next Open Meeting of the Society would take place on Friday, 26th September – when the venue would again be the Pound.
However, August was itself devoid of activity. Arrangements were well in hand for the Annual BBQ, once again to be held in the grounds of Heywood School, by kind permission of the principals, Michael and Pamela Hall. The date chosen was Saturday, 16th August, with Eric promising that ‘formalities’ would be underway by 12 noon, precisely. Regrettably, space limitations meant that participation in this very popular event in the Society’s calendar had to be restricted to ‘members only’.
This was to be followed, three evenings later, by a visit to the Radstock Museum. Members had looked forward to this, since the talk by the Museum’s Director, Denis Chedgy in May 2007. A coach has been organised for this visit. Those interested should contact Joan Maciver.
Rex’s presentation then followed, after which Wyndham Thomas extended the vote of thanks, in his continuing capacity as Programme Organiser.
Before, in keeping with standing procedures, activities were adjourned to the bar, Peter Tapscott was called upon to make one of the Society’s special awards.
He told his audience how the Society had been in receipt of a large aerial photograph of Corsham, of unknown vintage. Peter explained “The photograph was donated to the Society by Goughs Solicitors. It had occupied wall-space in one of the rooms in its Pickwick Road offices for many years. It carried no date but was known to be similar to another such photograph displayed on the ceiling of one of Corsham’s dentists – where it had clearly remained the focus of attention for all those who had sat in the chair over several years.
“The Committee had been keen to establish the exact date when the photograph had been taken. To this end, it had been displayed in the Middle Room at Arnold House and those using the room had been invited to enter their estimate and name on a list next to it. Invitations to date the photograph had been open from January until June of this year.” Peter continued, “Now was the time to settle the issue, and to award the prize that had been offered for the winning entry. This was found to be Christine Reid whose entry of 1979 was deemed to be the correct one, following a detailed examination of various features clearly visible on the photograph.
Christine was in attendance for the evening’s talk and was presented with her prize – an appropriately inscribed copy of the Society’s book “Corsham Pocket Images”.
The evening concluded with the distribution of the latest edition of ‘Corsham Spotlight’, the Society’s newsletter. Les expressed members’ appreciation for the efforts of Editor-in-Chief Pat Whalley and her worthy assistant, Eric Mahy, for again producing a ‘rattling good read’.
Notes for Editors: